Show of solidarity at London Marathon

MSNBC’s Alex Witt talks to Duncan Golestani from London about the show of solidarity at the London Marathon. He reveals how organizers and runners are honoring Boston and the heightened security resulting from Boston’s tragic bombing.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>>the
london
mayrathon is going on right now. the race is
half a world away
, runners laced up today with their minds on
boston
. we have details of the show of solidarity. duncan, to you. let's talk about how the organizers and the runners are honoring
boston
today.

>> reporter: yeah, hi,
alex
. before the start of the race they took 30 seconds out for a moment of silence. many of the competitors stood there in silence with their heads bowed, many wearing black ribbons in honor of the victims of
boston
. and then at the end of the 30 seconds there was some gentle applause and the race got under way. and since then, it's just been a normal
london marathon
. i've just come back down from the
river thames
. around half a million spectators are expected to be out lining the courses which winds its way around through some of
london
's biggest landmarks and in many ways,
alex
, i think perhaps that is the ultimate show of solidarity, just people coming out as normal, two good examples of that. we spoke to a couple who said when they saw what happened in
boston
they decided they weren't going to come down to
london
to watch the marathon, but then they said they saw the groundswell of support for the
boston
victims and they decided they should. and they told us they were having a great day but, of course, in the back of their minds there was some sadness thinking about what happened. and then another young couple, some college students from slews, over here in
london
studying. they weren't really thinking about coming to watch the marathon. then when the bombings happened, they decided they should come out. they said that was their act of solidarity.
alex
?

>>yeah, absolutely. you have to love that kind of support. but with regard to the security arrangements for spectators as well as the runners, that must have been a bit daunting to get through to where he they needed to go, right?

>> reporter: yes. so what police have done, they have increased the police numbers by about 40%. that's around 700 officers across the 26-mile course. the police here have been really keen to say there is no change in the threat level, also no link to
boston
. what they're calling this is reassurance policing. more police possible on the streets. more
sniffer dogs
out, and they've taken a little bit of extra security with competitors' bags being careful the bags aren't left around. really they say it's to make sure everyone feels safe and confident and enjoys the marathon as they have done every year. and having just come back from there, i think so far they have succeeded.

>>and something to note considering how video cameras played such an important role in the investigation with the
boston marathon
, they added a few there in
london
and those are something that certainly would be looked at should anything go awry. duncan golestani, many thanks as always.